土地使用权改革论文

土地制度改革英文文献

Land use rights reformand the real estatemarket in China: asynoptic account oftheoretical issues andthe property rightssystem

Lawrence W

ai Chung Lai

Introduction

China, in territorial terms, is the second

largest country in the world after Canada. It isalso the most populous state on earth with anestimated population in 1990 of 1.1 billionpeople. Under socialist rule, China adopted aclosed-door policy for almost 30 years from1949. This closure rendered non-China-based research on the Chinese economy analmost exclusive domain of a few “Chinaexperts” whose opinions were regarded asbeing authoritative. The opening of the coun-try and the resulting rapid economic progressunder the leadership of Deng Xiao Ping onthe one hand, and the collapse of the commu-nist regimes of the Soviet Union and the

Warsaw Pact states on the other, have kindledgreat academic interest in the economic

reforms of China. In the context of improvedaccessibility to reliable data under the liberal-ization policy, the scope of academic researchin the Chinese economy is immense. Researchon the real estate market of China, in particu-lar, is driven by both theoretical and practicalinterests.

Many scholars are interested in knowingwhether the so-called “go capitalist” econom-ic attempts of China are consistent with theof cial adherence to the socialist politicalstance. In terms of practice, practitioners inthe rapidly expanding Chinese propertymarket require better informed analysisbeyond of cial propaganda or mere “facts”gathering.

The literature generated reveals a numberof theoretical issues which re ect on theinfancy of the eld resulting from past

neglect. While some of the issues identi edmay be a matter of semantics, most of themare likely to be the result of the absence ofparadigms for theoretical articulation. Thisarticle gives a synoptic account of some theo-retical issues identi ed in the literature andsome property rights aspects of the “land userights” reform of the real estate market inChina. This may help in stimulating morerigorous academic inquiry into the subjectarea.

Surveying, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, andVisiting Fellow at the Ian Buchan Fell Research Centre,

University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

transferable “land use rights” and inalienable “landownership”, a novel concept unknown to human kindbefore, or a pragmatic reversion to the private propertyrights system abolished by the communist revolution?Advocates the view that the latter is a more correctinterpretation. As part of a “going capitalist” economicreform programme, such a reversion is manifested in thelegal recognition of the leasehold tenure after the

“responsibility system” in privatizing agricultural produc-tion had proved to be successful. As the development ofprivate property rights is a prelude to market transactions,the Chinese land use rights reform should be conducive tothe success of the economic liberalization policy of China,provided that there is a contemporaneous advance in thedevelopment of the rule of law and technical know-how,

such as valuation and land surveying.

Property Management

Volume 13 · Number 4 · 1995 · pp. 21–28© MCBUniversity Press · ISSN 0263-7472

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